❛009❜
"FLASK!" PERCY SCREAMED as they hurtled towards the water.
"what?" annabeth asked. she was holding on to the boat straps for dear life.
percy must've lost his mind, ivy figured. a flask wasn't her first thought while fell. she gripped at the boat with all her strength, scared of flying off like a stray napkin.
tyson seemed to understand something she didn't. he opened a duffel bag and took out hermes's magical flask without losing his grip on it or the boat.
arrows and javelins whistled past them.
percy grabbed the flask. "hang on!"
"i am hanging on!" annabeth yelled.
ivy yelled back. "we are going to die!"
"hold on tighter!"
ivy hooked her feet under the boat's inflatable bench, and, as tyson grabbed the back of her, annabeth and percy's shirt, the son of poseidon gave the flask cap a quarter turn."
instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the flask and propelled them sideways, turning them downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing.
the wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the flask, like it was glad to be free. as they hit the ocean, they bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then they were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in our faces and nothing but sea ahead.
ivy heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind them, but they were already out of weapon range. the princess andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone.
as they raced over the sea, the three demigods tried to send an iris-message to chiron. figuring it was important they let somebody know what luke was doing, and they didn't know who else to trust.
the wind from the flask stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight – perfect for an iris-message – but the connection was still poor. when annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.
they told him about sneaking away from camp, luke, the princess andromeda, and the golden box for kronos's remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on their end, ivy wasn't sure how much he heard.
"percy," chiron yelled, "you have to watch out for –"
his voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him – a bunch of voices whooping it up like comanche warriors.
"what?" percy yelled.
"curse my relatives!" chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. "annabeth, ivy, you shouldn't have let Percy leave camp! but if you do get the fleece –"
"yeah, baby!" somebody behind chiron yelled. "woo-hoooooo!"
the music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made our boat vibrate.
"– miami," chiron was yelling. "i'll try to keep watch –"
their misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and chiron was gone.
an hour later they spotted land – a long stretch of beach lined with high-rise hotels. the water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers. a coastguard cruiser passed on their starboard side, then turned like it wanted a second look. ivy guessed it isn't every day they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a hundred knots an hour, manned by three kids.
"that's virginia beach!" annabeth said as they approached the shoreline. "oh my gods, how did the princess andromeda travel so far overnight? that's like –"
"five hundred and thirty nautical miles," percy blurred out.
ivy blinked. "how the hell did you know that?"
"i– i'm not sure." he looked a bit self-conscious.
annabeth stared at percy, thinking. "percy, what's our position?"
"thirty-six degrees, forty-four minutes north, seventy-six degrees, two minutes west," he said immediately. then percy shook his head. "what the fuck?"
"maybe it's because of your dad," annabeth guessed. "when you're at sea, you have perfect bearings."
ivy cracked a smile. "now we have our own personal gps. where's the nearest prada store?"
before percy could tell her if he did know where there was a para store, tyson tapped his shoulder. "other boat is coming."
ivy looked back. the coastguard vessel was definitely on their tail now. its lights were flashing and it was gaining speed.
"we can't let them catch us," percy said. "they'll ask too many questions."
"i don't think the mist would help us much here," ivy nodded.
"keep going into chesapeake bay," annabeth said. "i know a place we can hide."
ivy pursed her lips, knowing exactly where annabeth wanted to take them, she didn't know if she felt comfortable visiting a place that had once been luke's. percy risked loosening the flask cap a little more, and a fresh burst of wind sent them rocketing around the northern tip of virginia beach into chesapeake bay. the coastguard boat fell further and further behind. they didn't slow down until the shores of the bay narrowed on either side, and ivy realized they'd entered the mouth of a river.
"there," the daughter of athena said. "past that sandbar."
they veered into a swampy area choked with marsh grass. percy beached the lifeboat at the foot of a giant cypress.
vine-covered trees loomed above them. insects chirred in the woods. the air was muggy and hot, and steam curled off the river.
"come on," annabeth said. "it's just down the bank."
"what is?" percy asked.
"just follow." ivy said, grabbing a duffel bag. "let's cover the boat, maybe we'll get to use it later."
after burying the lifeboat with branches, they followed annabeth along the shore, their feet sinking in red mud.
ivy caught heard the chilling hiss of a snake. she shrieked, backtracking on her steps, "no, no. i'm not going in there if there's snakes."
percy tried to pull her along, glancing at annabeth he asked, "she's not going to move, is she?"
the brunette had her eyes screwed shut, her hands clasped on her ears, and her feet digging on the ground.
"nope." annabeth deadpan.
sighing, the son of poseidon stood in front of ivy, bending down to be on her eyes level. "ivy."
"mhm?" she responded, still playing the i-don't-see-them-they-don't-see-me game with the snakes.
"open your eyes."
"nuh-uh."
"fine, then." percy said. "get on my back, i'll carry you until we get... wherever it is we're going."
ivy stayed silent.
"i'll get you chocolate after..." percy suggested.
she hesitated before unclamping the hand around her ears, fluttering her eyes open. "i'll castrate you if one of those little bitches so much as touches me."
percy rolled his eyes, turning around and crouching down to pick her up piggyback ride style. ivy wrapped her arms around his neck, making sure not to choke him. the boy placed his hands respectfully behind her thighs, easily picking her up. if she wasn't so focused on tuning out the snakes around her, she would've noticed the weird sensation that sworld on her insides at his touch.
"not a good place," tyson said. he swatted the mosquitoes that were forming a buffet queue on his arm.
after another few minutes of walking, annabeth said, "here."
ivy dropped from percy's hold, and all she saw was a patch of brambles. but she knew better, annabeth moved aside a woven circle of branches, like a door, and then she was looking into a camouflaged shelter.
the inside was big enough for three, even with tyson being the third. the walls were woven from plant material, like a native american hut, but they looked pretty waterproof. stacked in the corner was everything you could want for a campout – sleeping bags, blankets, an ice chest and a kerosene lamp. there were demigod provisions, too – bronze javelin tips, a quiver full of arrows, an extra sword and a box of ambrosia. the place smelled musty, like it had been vacant for a long time, and it had been.
"a half-blood hideout." percy looked around the place in awe. "you made this place?"
"thalia and i," the blonde said quietly. "and luke."
ivy looked around the shelter, trying to picture a younger annabeth with thalia and luke taking care of her. being runaways together, hiding from monsters, surviving on their own before grover found them and tried to get them to half-blood hill. it felt odd, for years she has been grateful for luke, not just anybody would take it upon themselves to take care of an eight-year-old... but now all she felt for luke was anger and resentment. a massive contrast to her previous emotions.
"so..." percy started. "you think luke will look for us here?"
annabeth shook her head. "we made a dozen safe houses like this. i doubt luke even remembers where they are. or cares."
sighing, ivy threw herself down on the blankets. she thought about luke's words, dishonoring a memory. her full potential... what was that even supposed to mean?
the daughter of athena had a permanent scowl on her face. "i'll go scout around," she said, leaving the shelter without waiting for an answer. ivy didn't stop her, knowing her best friend dealt with her emotions better alone.
after annabeth left and a few moments of silence, percy said, "um, tyson? would you mind scouting around outside? like, look for a wilderness convenience store or something?"
"convenience store?"
"yeah, for snacks. powdered donuts or something. just don't go too far."
"powdered donuts," tyson said earnestly. "i will look for powdered donuts in the wilderness." he headed outside and started calling, "here, donuts!"
once he was gone, percy sat down across from ivy. "hey, i'm sorry about, you know, seeing luke."
"there's nothing for you to be sorry about," ivy unsheathed her knife and started cleaning the blade with a rag.
"he let us go too easily," he said.
the brunette nodded. "i know. and what he said about a gamble and taking the bait... i think he was talking about us."
"the fleece is the bait? or grover?"
ivy studied the intricate design of the hilt of her knife. "i don't know. he probably wants the fleece for himself, or that we'll do the dirty work and the he'll be able to steal it. i just– i can't believe he poison the tree."
"what do you think he meant," percy asked, "when he said thalia would've been on his side?"
"i don't think she would've,"
"you don't sound sure."
ivy glared at him. "well, i never knew her. i'm going off of what annabeth has told me." she snapped.
percy stayed silent. taking a deep breath, ivy calmed the wave of fury that had washed over her.
"from what i've told... you and thalia sound a lot alike. i mean, the type of alike that you either would've been best friends or you would've strangled each other."
"let's go with 'best friends'."
"thalia got angry with her dad sometimes. so do you, and every other demigod. would you turn against olympus because of that?"
percy stared at a point behind ivy, lost in thought before he replied, "no."
"exactly. luke's wrong." ivy sheathed her knife.
"so what did luke mean about cyclopes?" percy asked. "i saw how you reacted, and he also said annabeth of all people –"
"i know what he said, the thalia thing you should ask annabeth about but..." ivy replied, looking anywhere but him. "i was just thinking about– i was thinking about how my dad died."
a heavy silence hung in the air.
ivy drew a shaky breath. "you can never trust a cyclops, percy. seven years ago, my dad and i were –"
she was interrupted when the door of the hut creaked open. tyson crawled in.
"powdered donuts!" he said proudly, holding up a pastry box.
annabeth burst into the shelter, panting for air. "we have a problem."
"where did you get that?" ivy asked tyson rapidly. "we're in the middle of the wilderness. there's nothing around for –"
"just fifteen meters away from here–," annabeth said.
tyson nodded happily. "monster donut shop – just over the hill!"
"this is bad," the blonde muttered.
ivy sighed. "that's an understatement."
they were crouching behind a tree, staring at the donut shop in the middle of the woods. it looked brand new, with brightly lit windows, a parking area and a little road leading off into the forest, but there was nothing else around, and no cars parked in the lot. they could see one employee reading a magazine behind the cash register. that was it. on the store's awning, in huge black letters that even ivy could read, it said:
monster donut
a cartoon ogre was taking a bite out of the O in MONSTER. the place smelled good, like fresh-baked chocolate donuts.
"this shouldn't be here," ivy whispered.
annabeth nodded grimly. "it's wrong."
"what?" percy asked. "it's a fucking donut shop."
"shhh!" both girls said in unison.
"why are we whispering? tyson went in and bought a dozen. nothing happened to him."
"he's a monster," annabeth said.
"aw, c'mon, annabeth. monster donut doesn't mean literal monsters! it's a chain. we've got them in new york."
"a chain," the blonde agreed. "and don't you think it's strange that one appeared immediately after you told tyson to get donuts? right here in the middle of the woods?"
percy furrowed his brows in thought.
"it could be a nest," ivy explained.
tyson whimpered. ivy doubted he understood what they were saying, but their tones were making him nervous. he'd ploughed through half a dozen donuts from his box and was getting powdered sugar all over his face.
"a nest for what?" percy asked.
"haven't you ever wondered how franchise stores pop up so fast?" ivy asked. "one day there's nothing and then the next day – boom, there's a new burger place or a coffee shop or whatever? first a single store, then two, then four – exact replicas spreading across the country?"
"um, no. never thought about it."
"some of the chains multiply so fast because all their locations are magically linked to the life force of a monster." annabeth explained. "some children of hermes figured out how to do it back in the 1950s. they breed –"
annabeth froze.
"what?" percy demanded. "they breed what?"
"no – sudden – moves," the daughter of athena said, like her life depended on it. "very slowly, turn around."
then ivy heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves.
she turned and saw a rhino-size thing moving through the shadows of the trees. it was hissing like a snake, its front half writhing in all different directions. ivy couldn't understand what she was seeing at first. then she realized the thing thad multiple necks – at least seven, each topped with a hissing reptilian head. Its skin was leathery, and under each neck it wore a plastic bib that read: i'm a monster donut kid!
percy took out my ballpoint pen, but ivy locked eyes with him – a silent warning. not yet.
he seemed to understand. a lot of monsters have terrible eyesight. it was possible the hydra might pass them by. but if percy uncapped his sword now, the bronze glow would certainly get its attention.
they waited.
the hydra was only a meter or so away. it seemed to be sniffing the ground and the trees like it was hunting for something. then ivy noticed that two of the heads were ripping apart a piece of yellow canvas – one of their duffel bags. the thing had already been at their campsite. it was following their scent.
her heart pounded. she'd seen a stuffed hydra-head trophy at camp before, but that did nothing to prepare me for the real thing. each head was diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake's, but the mouths were lined with jagged rows of shark-like teeth.
ivy was paralized in terror.
tyson was trembling. he stepped back and accidentally snapped a twig. immediately, all seven heads turned towards them and hissed.
"scatter!" annabeth yelled. she dived to the right.
percy rolled to the left, dragging the stiff ivy with him. one of the hydra heads spat an arc of green liquid that shot past the boy's shoulder and splashed against an elm. the trunk smoked and began to disintegrate. the whole tree toppled straight towards tyson, who still hadn't moved, petrified by the monster that was now right in front of him like ivy had been.
"tyson!" percy tackled him, knocking him aside just as the hydra lunged and the tree crashed on top of two of its heads.
the Hydra stumbled backwards, yanking its heads free and wailing in outrage at the fallen tree. all seven heads shot acid, and the elm melted into a steaming pool of muck.
"move!" ivy yelled at tyson.
percy ran to the side farthest from tyson and ivy and uncapped riptide, attracting the monster's attention.
the sight of celestial bronze – or imperial gold – is hateful to most monsters. as soon as the glowing blade appeared, the hydra whipped towards it with all its heads, hissing and baring its teeth.
the good news: tyson and ivy were momentarily out of danger. the bad news: percy was about to be melted into a puddle of goo.
one of the heads snapped at percy experimentally, making him swing his sword.
"no!" annabeth yelled.
too late. percy sliced the hydra's head clean off. it rolled away into the grass, leaving a flailing stump, which immediately stopped bleeding and began to swell like a balloon.
in a matter of seconds the wounded neck split into two necks, each of which grew a full-size head. now they were looking at an eight-headed hydra.
"percy!" ivy scolded. "you just made another monster donut shop pop up somewhere!"
he dodged a spray of acid. "i'm about to die and you're worried about that? how do we kill it?"
"fire!" annabeth said. "we have to have fire!"
the hydra's heads would only stop multiplying if we burned the stumps before they regrew, ivy it was an easy demigod lesson to remember. but they had no fire.
percy backed up towards the river. the hydra followed.
ivy notched arrows at the hydras head from as far as she could, aiming for the eyes and mouth to keep it distracted. annabeth moved in on my left, taking a closer approached, parrying its teeth with her knife, but another head swung sideways like a club and knocked her into the muck.
"no hitting my friends!" tyson charged in, putting himself between the hydra and annabeth. as annabeth got to her feet, tyson started smashing at the monster heads with his fists so fast it reminded ivy of the whack-a-mole game at the arcade. but even tyson couldn't fend off the hydra forever.
they kept itching backwards, dodging acid splashes and deflecting snapping heads without cutting them off, but ivy knew we were only postponing their deaths. eventually, they would make a mistake and the thing would kill them.
then ivy heard a strange sound – a chug-chug-chug that at first she thought was her heartbeat. it was so powerful it made the riverbank shake.
"what's that noise?" annabeth shouted, keeping her eyes on the hydra.
"steam engine," tyson said.
"huh?" ivy asked as percy ducked a hydra acid spat.
then from the river behind them, a familiar female voice shouted, "there! prepare the thirty-two-pounder!"
ivy didn't dare look away from the hydra, but if that was who she thought it was behind them, she figured they now had enemies on two fronts.
a gravelly male voice said, "they're too close, m'lady!"
"damn the heroes!" the girl said. "full steam ahead!"
"aye, m'lady."
"fire at will, captain!"
annabeth understood what was happening a split second before ivy did. she yelled, "hit the dirt!" and they dived for the ground as an earth-shattering boom echoed from the river. there was a flash of light, a column of smoke and the hydra exploded right in front of them, showering them with nasty green slime that vaporized as soon as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.
"my clothes!" ivy screamed, followed by a "gross!" from annabeth.
"steamship!" yelled tyson.
chugging towards them down the river was the strangest ship she'd ever seen. it rode low in the water like a submarine, its deck plated with iron. in the middle was a trapezoid-shaped casemate with slats on each side for cannons. a flag waved from the top – a wild boar and spear on a blood-red field. lining the deck were zombies in grey uniforms – dead soldiers with shimmering faces that only partially covered their skulls, like the ghouls she'd seen in the underworld guarding Hades's palace.
the ship was an ironclad. a civil war battle cruiser. ivy could just make out the name along the prow in moss-covered letters: css birmingham.
and standing next to the smoking cannon that had almost killed them, wearing full greek battle armor, was clarisse.
"pussies," she sneered. "but i suppose i have to rescue you. come aboard."
a speaks!
i got my mom to watch peaky blinders and now she's as obsessed as me w tommy shelby and cillian murphy HAHAHA
thoughts???